FELL, Michael

1939 - 2023

Michael Anthony Fell was born at Heydon Park Road, Great Dunmow, Essex on 31 January 1939, son of [Sir] Anthony Fell (18 May 1914–20 March 1998), then a technical plastics representative, and his wife Dorothy June Ada née Warwick (18 June 1913-8 October 2007), who had married at Epping, Essex the previous year. His father, who was later Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth 1951-1966 and 1970-1983, was knighted on 9 February 1982. Sir Anthony encouraged Michael’s early interest in art and followed in the footsteps of his great grandfather, the lawyer and politician, Sir Arthur Fell, MP (1850-1834) in becoming an artist. Michael was educated at St George's, Weybridge, and studied painting and printmaking at St Martin's School of Art and the City and Guilds of London Art School, Kennington, London. He also took up a travelling scholarship in Europe in the late 1960s, exploring Rome, Vienna, and the countryside. Michael married at Westminster, London in 1967 Maureen F. Lean and they had two sons, Mark and Robert. The family lived in London until 1984 when they moved to The Music House, Bridge Street, Bungay, Suffolk, a former residence of the French aristocrat Chateaubriand and in 1996 moved to 17 Fonnereau Road, Ipswich. Michael taught at the City and Guilds of London Art School from the 1970s, being head of foundation studies 1985-1996 and worked as an examiner for the Prince's Teaching Institute in the 1990s. A fellow of the Society of Designer Craftsmen, Chairing the Society in the late 1980s, Michael was also elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers in 1998. From 2000, Michael lived full time in an old Gascon farmhouse in Southwest France which he had restored, where he immersed himself in his art for the following two decades and where he resided until his death on 12 March 2023. Throughout his life he drew, painted, and made prints continuously, chronicling the people, cities, towns, and nature around him in a large and varied output. He exhibited at the Royal Academy; Jordan Galleries, London; the British Museum; the Cathedral, Bury St Edmund's, Suffolk; Wice Gallery, Paris; Abbey de Flaran Gers, France; Halesworth Gallery, Suffolk; Gelleria Renata, Chicago; the Belanthi Gallery, New York; and at the home of Arnaud and Anne Guinard in Gascony. He had solo exhibitions at Grosvenor Gallery, London in 1996; Chappel Galleries, Essex in 1999; Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich in 2001; Bankside Gallery on the Southbank in 2010; Chapelle de Las, Gascony in 2014; and L’Association Culturelle Confluences de Rozes, Gascony in 2022. His work is held by the British Museum, the British Council, Christchurch Park Museum, Ipswich, Victoria National Gallery, University of Melbourne, and Churchill Library, Massachusetts, as well as in numerous private collections. Michael Anthony Fell died in France in March 2023.

Royal Academy Exhibits
from 41 Cardigan Street, London
1974 986 Hell - etching
1975 952 Skating in the Park
1978 820 Christmas in France - etching
1979 577 Still Life with Escargot
         1201 Playing Giddy Goats
1980 1113 Fire Picture
from The Music House, Bridge Street, Bungay, Suffolk
1985 146 Winter Boatyard
c/o King Street Galleries, 17 King Street, St James's, London SW1
1987 392 Evening Shades, Suffolk
from The Music House, Bridge Street, Bungay, Suffolk
1989 222 Canterbury Tales - etching
1990 242 Saint Matthew’s Gospel – etching
1991 230 A Simple Easter – etching
1993 212 Italian Café, New York – etching aquatint
1998 967 Sunny Distance with Branch – oil

---

Works by This Artist